


lionheart

by roasthoney



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Character Study, Focus on Blue Lions relationships with Dimitri, M/M, Male My Unit | Byleth, Mostly Gen, Pre-Time Skip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 11:11:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20226901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roasthoney/pseuds/roasthoney
Summary: Dimitri considers himself a good, fair, house leader of the Blue Lions. Byleth assigns him a mission that makes his role a lot more challenging: become their friends.Pre-timeskip; Blue Lions path spoilers.





	lionheart

Dimitri, as house leader, is aware of his position. For all three houses the leader stands as the future ruler of the kingdom that the citizens of each house hail from. It's not a friendly, merit-based, sort of title. It's merely the future reflected in the present; the hierarchy of the nation, but in lesser form with all of the nobles too young to rule but too old to be coddled. 

He was born a price and raised to be a king. It's easy to present himself as a dutiful successor, the young prince who trains hard to ready himself for the decades of prosperity he aims to bring about. 

The truth is not as easy. Dimitri would die today for revenge. He would abandon his land, his house mates, his all, to fulfill the only promise in his life that he must keep. 

The people of Faerghus do not own him. The dead do. What a farce, he thinks to himself, a pitiful person for people to place their hopes onto, a pathetic prince who doesn't care enough for his people to choose them above all. Unable to hold up to his own ideals and disrupt the cycle of the strong trampling the weak. 

Dimitri knows all of this. But he cannot change — and so he only despises himself further, isolated in both standing and his own mind, consumed by guilt and the knowledge that someday he will disappoint anyone who truly cares for Faerghus. 

"Professor, may I ask for your opinion?" 

Byleth and him are having tea. From Byleth's invitation, of course, because Dimitri could not be so bold as to ask himself. The conversation is pleasant so far, mostly about proper weapon upkeep, but he finds himself wanting to hear Byleth's perspective on his dilemma. 

"Yes, go ahead Dimitri." 

It is only the Blue Sea Moon, four months since Byleth's arrival, so Dimitri feels close but not close enough to bare his entire soul. 

(Though unsure if he would _ever_ do that to Byleth, with how high Dimitri regards his opinion of him, so the point may be moot.) 

"The students in the Blue Lions house often look to you for advice, yes?" Dimitri grips his teacup very, very, carefully (as not to break it) and sips to maintain his calm. 

"Often is a strong word. But yes, they do. As professor, I suppose it's my job to give advice." Truthfully, Byleth did not think there would be this much guiding and mentorship involved in the job, but he's trying to work with it and learn on the spot. He expected sword swinging and sparring, not headaches about how to resolve spats between students and how to help them be decent people — the latter mostly directed at Sylvain. 

"Yes, I suppose so too. And you're wonderful at it — truly, I have not seen a student walk away from you seeming discontent with your response. I think you may have a natural talent for it."

Byleth nods to acknowledge the praise, as he always does. He's silent — but instead of it being stifling, it allows Dimitri to go at his own pace and talk more. To say what's truly on his mind. 

"But I... I do not. I find that that our students don't go to me for any sort of advice, ever, and I assumed it was because of my title. However, I'm not sure if that is the true reason. It may just be an excuse — one that covers up how poor of a house leader I am." 

Dimitri's brow furrows deep. "I must admit I struggle to connect to them. I know that some would say, perhaps, that it would be best to maintain my distance. As a reminder of who I am to be, and who they are to be. That difference will only become more stark when we all leave the academy. But." 

It's hard for him to articulate why. There's no logical counterargument to a claim like that, and that's why Dimitri struggles. The logic is true — but the feeling, the isolation, the loneliness of it all, it wears away at him. 

"Do you agree with that, professor?"

Desperate inside, Dimitri seeks his opinion. If Byleth says that it is the best course of action, then that may make this all easier to accept and he will continue doing so. But if Byleth disagrees, then perhaps there's hope to be had. 

"I haven't been here long enough to judge you as a good, or bad, house leader," Byleth says, bitingly honest. "But I can tell you care for them. And I think they care for you."

Dimitri blinks with wide eyes, almost like a fawn, surprised by the idea that they would hold that sort of affection for him. 

"In Jeralt's mercenary company, we didn't have many titles. I think that benefitted us. By treating each other like family, we trusted each other on the battlefield. Fighting alone — feeling like it, at least, isn't advantageous." 

Dimitri finds himself pleasantly surprised by Byleth's more sentimental side. Talking about emotions and how they affected a fight — sharing personal details about his own life too, and the idea of family. 

Could Dimitri ever have another family? Would he deserve one? 

No, and no, the ghosts would say. Forgetting his family, replacing them with a new group, it would be akin to spitting on their graves. They died in front of him. They died instead of him. The place they took — was the place he was supposed to have. 

Yet he is the one, still here, enjoying tea of all things with Byleth, indulging in a life he doesn't deserve. It shames him. 

"What should I do?" Dimitri asks and it applies to this, yet also to everything else. 

Byleth sits quiet in thought. He looks at Dimitri and sees the flashes of sorrow between the lines of his noble optimism. Byleth himself won't be by his side forever, but the rest of the Blue Lions may be. 

"Let me assign you a mission." Byleth leans back as he crosses his arms. As expected, Dimitri's face lights up. A mission from him is straightforward. A task to be completed in order to please his instructor. No need for reasonings, or logic, or justification. 

"A mission for me?"

"Yes."

Dimitri straightens up in his seat, ready to receive. 

"Befriend the Blue Lions. Obtain some sort of proof, and report back to me with it. I will approve only if it is genuine." 

Dimitri's face _falls_. His entire body droops. This might be the worst mission ever assigned to him. He would take battle over this. Shopping errands even. It might be impossible. He's going to disappoint Byleth, surely. "... I brought this upon myself, didn't I?"

"You did." The smallest hint of a smile graces Byleth's face. 

(_Mesmerizing_, Dimitri thinks to himself.) 

"But you'll thank me for it, Dimitri. Trust me."


End file.
